nastyned says...

@Ruggernaut; because if the ball goes straight through the scrum, and is not played by a front row player, the ball must be put in again (Law 20.7c). However the reason England lost is that they were physically hammered in the first half. Hopefully Lancaster will have learnt something about international rugby and some of his players. Tuilagi is not an inside centre, Morgan, Parling and Hartley struggled to front up, England looked a lot better when Waldrom came on (although I haven't been a great fan), Corbisiero made a big difference in the scrum. Still this is a very young and inexperienced side who will have learnt a huge amount in the last two weeks.

Posted 15:47 17th June 2012

melkdave says...

Well finally watched the highlights.gradduaghters wedding yeserday so couldnt watch it live.Congraulatuons to SA on the victory ,and series win ,and also to England for the comeback.Making it annother close game ,and a good watch.The Bokkes power game in the 1st half was very good ,but England conceding a very soft try in the 1st five mins ,i feel gave them a big boost Overall imho England played the better rugby ,but its points on the scoreboard that win games.Still not disappointed with England ,,they made progress from the last game ,and i cant remember when last a bokke scrum was mullered,so consistanly,even before the subuitions.England arnt that far from cracking the power game of the bokkes really ,and will have learnt alot this tour.Still one test to go ,and still the possiabilty of England getting the one test win ,which imho will have made this an outstanding tour for England ,given its still very early in their development.Too come so close in 2 tests against a very experianced and powerfull SA team ,gives me alot of hope for the future.Again well done to both teams for such an entertaining match

Posted 15:07 17th June 2012

bokbevok says...

I think HM would of learnt that putting whole bench on in short time caused the cohesiveness to fall away especial when they are our go forward players , alerts bismark , hougard. Next week unlikely to see them go off altogether and I believe boks to win by more.

Posted 14:03 17th June 2012

TheBaritone says...

It was a great game; edge of the seat stuff and, on the balance of play, SA deserved the win. How, though, do the IRB allow Mr Roland to referee any game that includes scrummaging? He and his assistants seem to be blissfully unaware of the rules & regs of the scrum and should ask themselves the question "Why would the English prop drop the scrum when he is dominating his opponent?" This occurred on both sides of the scrum on several occasions and cost England several points as well as field position. This said, I thought that Roland reffed the rest of the game pretty well.

JPP was gifted the ball from Joseph's aimless kick, which was unfortunate. However, it produced a try that was both painful and magical to watch.

Posted 13:18 17th June 2012

XXXLDave says...

@Ruggernaut

IRB Law 20.7

(c) If the ball is not played by a front row player, and it goes straight through the tunnel and comes out behind the foot of a far prop without being touched, the scrum half must throw it in again.

The first person to touch the ball after the 9 was the England blind side Tom Johnson. The correct call would have been scrum again and not a try. The touch judge on that side should have known that.

Posted 12:39 17th June 2012

lawynd says...

What a game...I'm naturally gutted that England lost (although not surprising with that performance) but as a spectacle I've not seen many better. Hats off to the Boks (again!), the physicality of those boys is unmatched when they're in the mood. I thought for all the grief that Pietersen was getting on here during the week he played well, drop aside. And how valuable is Bismarck in the scrum? It was relatively even with him on the field but without him it was almost like watching Australia. ;)

Few positives for England really, no matter what any of the pundits tell us (@letsgoboks - most of us think Barnes is a tool as well!) - at one point I thought I was watching the soccer team, never have I seen such powder-puff tackling in an England shirt. I thought Youngs and Flood individually played well and that Joseph, Ashton and Foden had their moments, but Tuilagi was again ineffective (just because sometimes you run through people doesn't mean you should) and Strettle should be nowhere near this team. Parling reacted well to the probable words he got at half-time but, like many others, that first 40 was completely unacceptable. I think Marler has potential but still has a lot to learn at international level; for now, Corbisiero showed why he was the incumbent in the jersey. Yet again we saw almost nothing from Hartley in the loose, what's happened? Cole seems to get better with every game however; it'll be interesting to see who Cockerill favours next season at Leicester now. I was glad Waldrom got his chance because on current form, he's far better than Morgan (is he still recovering from an injury?).

@makemehappy - with the exception of the yellow cards (one for Robshaw, one for Alberts) that were never given, I thought Rolland and his assistants were great, by virtue of the fact that they were barely mentioned. Please, do enlighten us?

Posted 11:53 17th June 2012

philipjfry says...

@Ruggernaut: If the ball exits the scrum on the tight-head side without touching a front row player the law states that it should be re-set. I don't know if you were lucky enough (?) to watch the match on S*Y sport, the analysts explained it at half time.

Posted 11:34 17th June 2012

letsgoboks says...

@BillyMutt2

Yeah he is no Carter... but when he's in the zone with his kicking he's just a points machine.

Posted 11:03 17th June 2012

pugzly101 says...

@Ruggernaut: The law states that if the ball comes out of the other side of the scrum without touching any of the front row's feet, then it has to be re-set. While the ball hit Tom Johnsons , it should still have been reset.

Not that it would have changed the result (I applaud SA for those first 20 minutes of sublime rugby), but i thought the officiating was pretty poor. Especially at scrum time, now Marler should never have been there, but at nearly every scrum after he went off both SA props can be seen pulling it down, and the time they didn't you got shoved back 15 yards. IF a ref picks up on that in the future, SA will struggle against a more experienced team.

But as expected, while Eng can't be faulted for spirit, tactically we are some way off of the mark.

Posted 10:35 17th June 2012

Heathy says...

@ juggernaut - Just for clarification you need to refer to Law 20.7 c If the ball is not played by a front row player, and it goes straight through the tunnel and comes out behind the foot of a far prop without being touched, the scrum half must throw it in again. Then watch the replay it it is clear as day and the assistant looking straight at it. That is why nobody even moved. However, like I said, the Boks were so dominant that it didn't make a difference at that point.

Those that are chastising England please put things in perspective. Yes, we made errors. Yes, we lacked shape and composure at times. Yes, for periods of the game we were completely outplayed. But we are a brand new side and playing against a good SA team that have played together for a while, away from home and at altitude. We got quite close all things considered and asked questions of the Boks. England will get better. It was a good test match for both sides.

Posted 10:18 17th June 2012